Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms pdfdrive com

particular subject at the end of a unit. That’s because the children in my
classroom had to literally prove their learning, whereas in the past I think the
questions on my summative tests were often too easy and too narrow for this to
happen. Furthermore, these Finnish-style assessments gave my students the

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happen. Furthermore, these Finnish-style assessments gave my students the
leeway to demonstrate more than just a basic level of understanding and
knowledge on tests.
These summative evaluations were often demanding for my Helsinki
students, but I found that many of them seemed proud of their critical, creative
responses to these challenging, open-ended questions. Previously, I had rarely
noticed my students expressing healthy pride for answering test questions.
Here are a few example questions from tests I designed in different sixth
grade subjects:
• Physics: Explain how “earthing” works. In your explanation, refer to the
term “lightning conductor.” Write sentences and create a labeled diagram to
support your explanation.
• Geography: What is the difference between a vegetation zone and a climate
zone? Explain in words and create a diagram, if it supports your
explanation.
• History: Why did people migrate to Finland? Explain your thinking.
• Ethics: On the first ethics exam, you wrote about one “ethical dilemma”
you might face in your life. Now, choose one “democratic dilemma” to
write about. This can be a conflict in the world that’s either real or
imagined, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be a problem that you may face
in your life. It could be something that you’ve heard about on the news, or
used your imagination to make up. Provide one specific example of a
“democratic dilemma” and then, explain why it’s a “democratic dilemma”
with sentences.
• Chemistry: Imagine that you have been asked to find out whether toothpaste
is acidic or alkaline. Thinking like a scientist, what would you do?
If we teachers want to further promote mastery in our classrooms, I think we
need to do what I’ve noticed Finnish educators doing when designing custom-
made exams: get students to justify their answers to difficult, open-ended
questions. This strategy of getting students to prove their learning can be applied
not just when we’re producing summative assessments but on a daily basis: in
classroom discussions, in group work, and in formative assessments.